About British Library Food Season Big Weekend
The much-loved British Library Food Season returns with the Big Weekend – two days of culinary conversations with leading chefs and cooks, food writers, historians and more.
We delve deliciously into Ireland’s rich culinary traditions, celebrate Southern American food through the enduring legacy of Edna Lewis, and explore curries through a journey around the world. We step into the kitchens of Shakespearean England, travel along the Silk Roads through flavour and spice, and reimagine the barbecue – exploring how its meaning and mastery transform in the hands of women, and so much more.
See below for the weekend programme. To find out more about each session and the speakers, please visit its event page.
Weekend programme
Saturday 13 June
11.15, Pigott Theatre, Vittles presents: From Aspic to Instagram
11.15, Piazza Pavilion, At the Irish Table
13.00, Pigott Theatre, The Edible Archive: Palestinian Memory and Resistance
13.00, Piazza Pavilion, Kitchen Counter Cultures: Rethinking Womens’ Culinary Worlds
14.30, Pigott Theatre, In the Heat Together: Couples in the Kitchen
14.30, Piazza Pavilion, From Food Lovers to Change Makers
16.00, Pigott Theatre, Much Ado About Cooking
16.00, Piazza Pavilion, Please Sir, I Want Some More: Revolutionising What Kids Eat
Sunday 14 June
11.30, Pigott Theatre, Ruthie Rogers: On Kitchen, culture and the Makings of River Café
11.30, Piazza Pavilion, Palm Oil: The Crisis of a Contested Food
12.45, Pigott Theatre, Silk Roads and Ottoman Routes: How Ingredients and Tastes Came to Europe
13.00, Piazza Pavilion, Seaweed
14.00, Pigott Theatre, The Legacy of Edna Lewis
14.30, Piazza Pavilion, Masala to Miso: The Many Worlds of Curry
16.15, Pigott Theatre, Fork to Fiction: Food and Drink Writers Turned Novelists
16.15, Piazza Pavilion, Firepower: The Women Redefining BBQ
In Person Multi-Session Discounts
For the Food Season Big Weekend 2026, we’re introducing a new in-person multi-session discount to help more of you experience a wider range of sessions.
The more Big Weekend sessions you book, the more you save:
- book 3 or more sessions and receive 20% off your total booking
- book 5 or more sessions and receive 30% off your total booking.
Please add all your sessions to your basket and these discounts will be applied at check out.
Standard concession rates will continue to apply as usual.
Online tickets are also available.
About Food Season 2026
The British Library Food Season returns for its seventh year, bringing together some of the most influential names in food, drink, hospitality, literature and science, for a series of events that highlight the stories, the politics and the people behind how and why we eat. Discover more Food Season events.
Big Weekend sessions
Silk Roads and Ottoman Routes: How Ingredients and Tastes came to Europe
A journey along the routes that remade global eating.
Palm Oil: The Crisis of a Contested Food
How a vital cultural ingredient came to be demonised.
Seaweed
Seaweed’s culinary past and its future on our plates.
The Legacy of Edna Lewis
How the mother of soul food shaped modern cookery.
Vittles presents: From Aspic to Instagram
Food Photography Through the Ages.
Ruthie Rogers: On Kitchens, Culture and River Cafe
The award-winning chef, restaurateur and podcaster in conversation with Cynthia Shanmugalingam.
In the Heat Together: Couples in the Kitchen
Couple and sibling relationships in the pressure cooker of the commercial kitchen.
Much Ado About Cooking
Appetite, feasting and hunger in Shakespeare, with Simon Russell Beale and guests.
From Fork to Fiction: Food and Drink Writers Turned Novelists
Crossing genres and rewriting expectations with Catherine Kurtz, Felicity Cloake Gurdeep Loyal and Olly Smith.
The Edible Archive: Palestinian Memory and Resistance
Land, Seeds, Roots and Growth.
Firepower: the Women Redefining BBQ
Turning smoke, fire, and flavour into a vibrant, inclusive culinary culture.
From Masala to Miso: the Many Worlds of Curry
From India to Japan, Southeast Asia to Trinidad, how curry carries meaning and identity.
Please Sir, I Want Some More: Revolutionising What Kids Eat
How some school cooks are creating magic on a shoestring.
From Food Lovers to Change Makers
Turning passion for food into power to transform the food system.
At the Irish Table
Food, culture and tradition across the island of Ireland.
Kitchen Counter Cultures: Rethinking Womens’ Culinary World
A rich and provocative celebration of women who have cooked, created, and lived in radically imaginative ways.